All This Time
by theonlyxception
Summary: Gillian and Cal thought that all the twists and turns were over with, but they're going to find out that it's just the beginning of a long journey. Sequel to "May I"
1. Catch My Breath

Ah! I can't believe that it's finally here! And I bet you can't either. After almost four long months, I'm finally getting this story out here. I've had some major writing blocks for everything that I've been writing (and still might have some lingering behind). If you haven't read "May I" then I'm pretty sure this story isn't going to make a lick of sense. For those who have-get ready for another possible wild ride. I look forward to seeing what you all think.

* * *

Two weeks after their first real kiss, Cal and Gillian were trying to get back into the swing of things; in both their professional and personal lives. Awkwardness wasn't a factor in the equation; they were no longer trying to dance around each other, or the line that had been drawn.

Many of their coworkers had noticed the lack of tension between them, but had contributed the peace and quiet to the personal time they had taken off and left it at that. Although not everyone excused their absence that quickly. Eli, Ria—even Ben—were left to wonder what exactly had taken place during that time.

Even though they wanted to know, Gillian and Cal remained quiet on the matter, and continued on with their daily routine. Cal walked into her office and sat down in the chair in front of her desk. He seemed calmer than usual, but was still contemplating how fast this routine could fall apart. "I take it the results aren't in yet." He got settled in; hands resting against the arms of the chair.

Gillian peered over the computer and went back to typing. "Not until later in the week."

Leaning forward, he spun his finger in a half-circle. "How many times have you called the nanny?"

Her eyes flew towards the open door, which she closed immediately. "Once. But that's only because she called me on the way to work." As she was returning to her desk, the door flew open and Ria Torres walked in.

"What is it Torres?"

"Not to ruin the somewhat secret conversation that the two of you are having, but I thought you'd want to know that your ex-husband is waiting in the lobby."

Gillian's eyes widened slightly in surprise, but she was the first to respond. "Did he say why he was here?"

"Only that he wanted to see you." Raising her brow, Ria looked like she wanted to say something else, but instead thought better of it. "What do you want me to tell him?"

"I'll be right there." Ria nodded, then retreated out of the room. When Ria was sure to be halfway down the hall, Gillian closed the door behind her and the room grew silent between her and Cal. Her expression was in between wondering if he had anything to do with her ex-husband's arrival, and realizing how much he was hurting as he extended his hand out to her.

"Help me up, will you love?" She didn't have to ask whether he was still hurting as she gave him a hand. Although, he had been hiding it pretty well from everyone else, it was clear that he was still having some major pain from his injuries sustained in the crash.

"The last time we talked, Alec was taking a job back in Georgia."

Helping him lean against the chair, he leaned all his weight to one side. As he stood there, he paused briefly. "And a part of you thinks he knows about Sophie."

"I'm not sure how he could." Trailing off, she knew how that could be possible, but she didn't need to tell him that. Despite the pain, he seemed to know exactly what she was thinking.

"Whoever you think called him here, doesn't really matter. You're not going to get the answers standing here with me." A part of her knew that he was right, so she walked to the door. Her hand lingered on the handle as she looked him over. "Don't worry about me—I'm a grown man."

As she left without another word, he slowly pulled his phone out of his pocket. Waiting for the other person to pick up, her voice chimed in cheerily. "Hey dad, I just got out of school and waiting for mom to pick me up."

"Good. Think you can make a detour on your way over here?"

"Don't tell me. You forgot something to take with you to the book signing?"

He quickly fibbed. "I forgot my pen."

She sounded quite confused. "Don't you have plenty of those in your office?"

"Not just any pen. My lucky pen that sits on my dresser." He fibbed again, trying to hold himself up after his knees almost buckled from the pain that he was in.

"What is it that you're not telling me."

"Better for you not to know. Oh and Em—bring some Tylenol. I'm going to need to starve off this headache to get through this book signing."

"You don't get headaches unless something's wrong." She tried again—worry present in the tone of her voice.

"Blame the long day that I've had. Go on. Your mother is waiting." Just as he said that, Zoe's car pulled up to the curb.

"Fine, but you have some explaining to do when I get there." Her mother looked at her quizzically as she got in and put her seat belt on.

"Please tell me your father isn't causing trouble again." Zoe inquired as they drove away from the school.

"No, but he does want me to go pick up his lucky pen and some Tylenol from the house."

"Did he give a reason?" Zoe paused, thinking over what she had just asked. "Don't answer that. Your father seems to have a reason for everything—whether it's reasonable or not."

"I think he's hiding something."

"There's probably a good reason in his mind." Zoe concluded, stepping lightly on the break as they stopped for the light.

Looking out the window, Emily tried to think about the conversation she just had with her father. "He sounded like he was in pain."

Zoe looked over at her daughter, then focused back on the road. "Although he should be healing by now, it wouldn't surprise me if he has stopped taking his medication. This wouldn't be the first time that your father has pulled something like this." As they drove on, she told Emily the story. "When I was pregnant with you, the same thing happened but his appendix practically burst right after I pushed you out. I ended up taking a taxi cab home because your father had to stay a few extra days to recover. When he got home, I felt like I was taking care of two kids instead of just one as he refused to take his medicine consistently."

"Didn't that just delay his recovery?"

"Yes. At least an extra four weeks. And in those four weeks, he almost spent extra time in the hospital for all the pain that he was in." With that in mind, the car grew silent as they drove on.


	2. In Need Of An Explanation

Decided to start something new this time around. Thought it would nice to start shoutouts for those who have reviewed the previous chapter. Before I get started, thank you for all the welcome backs! I am so glad that you've all stuck with me, despite all the writing blocks and long pauses between chapters and stories. Still having a hard time trying to write chapter twenty for my other story "The Great Escape". So bear with me a little longer.

**Nonnie88- **Took me long enough, didn't it? :) As for why Alec is here, you'll have to keep reading the story to find out.

**Solveariddle- **That's stubborn Cal for you! Actually both Cal and Gillian are quite stubborn. Or at least, I must make them seem that way.

**LieBones**- Keep reading! :) The answer you seek should be in this chapter. I actually never thought about the fact that he and Zoe were doomed from the beginning when I wrote that part. Actually made me smile a bit that you thought of it that way. As for if they're in no turning back part of their relationship? Maybe. I'm still toying around with some possible scenarios that have to deal with their relationship.

**SassyCop**- I'm hoping that you'll like what I have planned. Prepare yourself for possibly another wild ride.

**KarenJC- **Personality transplant...hmm, he might have? You might be surprised how much his return kicks things into gear.

* * *

As she walked towards the lobby, she had to remind herself quite a few times to breathe. When she arrived in the waiting area, she saw him with his hands "Alec." He stood to greet her, kissing her lightly on cheek. "What are you doing here? I thought you moved to Georgia."

When he looked at her, his eyes were red. He looked like he had aged overnight. "I did. Then I came back for a business trip and the rest is history."

"You met someone." Gillian guessed, noticing the ring on his left hand.

"I never thought that I would. After we split and then divorced, I did nothing but sit in my office—taking big cases and doing paperwork. Then one week, I had a business trip to attend to. To make a long story short, I met a good person that night and we just seemed to hit it off." He looked slightly uncomfortable telling her this, but he continued. "We got married and we relocated in D.C. Just after that, Marleyn found out that she was pregnant. We were able to welcome our little boy about four months ago."

"You always wanted children." Gillian spoke softly; eyes gleaming. The one thing that she couldn't give him was children. It had been the one thing that she had longed for and yet, part of a closed wound had suddenly opened at the thought of him being able to have children so easily.

"No. I know how much you wanted to have them. I messed up, a lot when we were married—beginning with not talking about Sophie. She had been a big part of our lives when she was taken." She followed his gaze to the picture that was sitting on her desk. In fact, it was the same picture she had been staring at before she found out that Ava was in the conference room, waiting to talk to her. "I still think about her sometimes." She still didn't say anything, but zoned out slightly. "I didn't come here to stir up old wounds. I actually came here because I need help finding my wife and son."

After he explained everything, she inquired. "I hate to bring this up—is there any possibility that she could have gone somewhere without telling you?"

His eyes widened in defense. "You're asking me if she just up and left?"

"I'm asking if she left somewhere and didn't tell you where she was going."

"No, my wife would never go anywhere without telling me, or taking her purse and the diaper bag—both which were still sitting on the diaper table when I came home on Friday night." His voice raised, slightly hysterical. "The police said that there was no sign of a break in, or any sign of her car. When the police arrived, they asked me all sorts of questions. One officer thought I had something to do with their disappearance!"

"And they are going to suspect you, until they are able to rule you out." Gillian reassured him.

"I'm not sure that I can wait for them to do that." He offered impatiently, just as his phone rang in his pocket. He pulled it out with a sigh. "I should really take this." When he retreated to the corner of the room, Emily walked by looking slightly frantic.

Walking around her desk, she slipped out into the hall. "Emily?"

"Gillian, hey. You haven't seen my dad around, have you?"

"I saw him about ten minutes ago. What's going on?"

"I'm not sure. He called me on my way here, asking if I could bring his lucky pen and some Tylenol before we went to the book signing. Except his pen wasn't where he said it was. Then he asked me to bring some Tylenol, which there wasn't any. Mom did manage to find the prescription that you bought for him after the accident."

Walking down the hall towards his office, Gillian filled her in. "His lucky pen. I knew there was something wrong when he walked into my office this morning." Shaking her head, she pulled out the bottle from the bag to see that it was still almost full.

As they walked down the hall, they both noticed that the curtains were drawn in his office and exchanged another look. When they walked in, Cal was lying still on the couch with his eyes closed. "Dad?" It took a moment, but his eyes fluttered open as he took in the sight of both Emily and Gillian standing there.

"I've seen that look before." Cal muttered. "What did I do now?"

"Tell me what you were thinking, when you thought it was a good idea to not take what your doctor prescribed?" Gillian inquired, standing next to the couch.

Cal blinked the sleep out of his eyes. "I put it in the kitchen drawer, so I could use it if I needed it."

"If you're going to lie to my face, at least make it sound convincing." Gillian chimed in, letting him know her disappointment.

"According to mom, this isn't the first time that he's pulled something like this." Emily quietly read over the instructions on the bottle. "Mom was telling me that his appendix burst right after she had me."

"It was the day after you were born." Cal corrected, sitting up with a tired groan. He grabbed the bottle from her hand; squinting and blinking some more, as if he were wary about what she was giving him. "You're going to have to read the instructions to me."

"Take one capsule every four hours." Digging in, he grabbed one capsule and held it in his hand. "You know this would have been a lot easier if you had taken this in the first place."

"Except I asked for Tylenol."

"Sorry, we were out."

"Liar. We had a full bottle the last time I checked. I fully intend to find it when I get home."

"How do you know that the fairies didn't steal it?"

"There's no such thing as fairies."

"I think that's a good idea that you go home, Cal." Gillian caught his attention.

"You want me to cancel the book signing."

Emily looked back and forth between her dad and Gillian. "Apparently you two still have some things to discuss." Handing him the pill, she capped the pill bottle and excused herself. "I'm going to grab some water, so you can take that."

"I have a case of bottled water next to my bookshelf." He informed her, but she didn't listen. The door closed behind her, leaving them alone.


	3. Game Plan

She watched him carefully as he tried not to groan every time he moved. Yet it was hard from him to stay still and not almost tip over. When she couldn't take it any longer, she disappeared around the corner and came back with a bottle of water in hand. A look of pure exhaustion disappeared as quickly as it had come as he downed the pill, then shakily capped the lid back on.

Handing her the bottle back, he stifled another groan as he laid his head back on the couch; closing his eyes, she took that as a sign to leave the room. "Aren't we going to talk?" He muttered tiredly.

She spun slightly on her heels as she turned back around. "We shouldn't talk here."

He glanced up at her, blinking the tiredness away. "You think if we talk here, Torres and Loker are going to find out what's happening."

"Just because we haven't told them, doesn't mean they're not already digging for information." Her hand hovered lightly over the door handle.

"Where are we going?"

Perking up at the at the use of "we", she stepped forward. "I left Alec in my office. I'm going to finish up and then I'm taking you home." She left no room for argument as his eyes fluttered closed again. When she walked out into the hall, Ria Torres was leaning against the wall.

"Having a secret meeting in there?" Torres inquired suspiciously, folding her arms across her chest. Gillian gave her the best _follow me _look and they walked together down the hall.

"I need you to check up on a case for me."

"You mean Alec, who is still waiting in your office?" They rounded the corner. "What exactly did he want?"

Gillian gave a subtle nod, but didn't elaborate much. "His wife and son disappeared last Friday. I want you and Loker to look into any disturbances—both in their home life and work and let me know what you find."

"Sure, I'll get right on that." Ria muttered as Gillian walked off towards her office without a second glance. "One of these days I'm going to figure out why I'm still doing this." She said more to herself as she watched Gillian disappear around the corner before heading off to the lab.

As she entered her office, Alec turned around to face her. She shot him an apologetic glance as she motioned for him to sit. "I would have thought Lightman would have stormed in here by now. He never did like me."

"Cal is working in his office." She exhaled deeply, as if she were reconsidering telling him the next part. "And the night you went to meet you sponsor, he followed you and thought you were cheating on me."

"With my sponsor? So that's what did me in." He offered a sad smile. "I'm not sure what would have hurt you more—if I had cheated or the fact that I was addicted to drugs." It was clear by the look on her face that either would have hurt. "The fact is, I ruined our marriage. Now I have a second chance with Marleyn and our son, and I can't lose them like I lost you."

"I'm having Ria look into it." Standing up. She rounded the desk and pulled out a pad of paper and a pen. "In the meantime, I need you to write down anyone that you or your wife knew, that you might have had a falling out with, or someone that held a grudge."

"Unfortunately I know a lot of people who hold grudges." Taking the pen and paper, it was several minutes before he handed her back the paper with several names scribbled down. "That's everyone I can think of right now. I wish I could think of more, but I'm hoping that someone on this list will give us something we need to find my wife and son."

"I'll see what I can find out." She offered softly as her brow furrowed with concern.

As he stood, he picked up the framed picture of Sophie. His fingers touched the glass as he reminisced on their past. "She should have been yours."

Gillian swallowed hard and corrected him. "She should have been ours."

"No. Then she would have been caught in the middle of our divorce." He spoke absently as he put the frame back the way it had been facing on her desk. "She would have to go back and forth from your house to mine. You know that's no way for a child to live." Instead of continuing on, he looked at his watch and stood. "I should get going. I'm supposed to meet a friend for an early dinner. I would cancel, but this friend is also taking over my caseload so I can take some time off."

"If we find anything, I'll let you know." An unspoken appreciation was felt as they walked down to the end of the hall; on that final note, they said their silent goodbyes and he went on his way. As she watched him disappear she took a few minutes to gather her thoughts before heading back into her office. A few minutes later, she came back out with her phone, computer, and a few other things she would need at home—or more specifically what she would need at Cal's home.

"I take it you didn't talk with dad?" Emily mentioned as Gillian entered the break room. She stood and stuffed a few items back into her bag, while eying everything she was carrying. "And you're taking us home, since dad is probably in no condition to drive."

Gillian nodded as they began making their way back towards Cal's office. "We'll pick Sophie up on the way."

"Oh, I called the bookstore to let them know Dad wouldn't be coming to sign books. I might have taken his phone on my way out of his office to get the number."

"I'm sure he'll understand." Gillian touched her shoulder lightly and kept walking down the hall; keeping an eye out for anyone who might overhear them. "Now we need to figure out a way to get your father out of the building."

"What we need is a game plan." Emily chimed in. Reaching the office, her mouth slacked slightly at the sight down the hall. Gillian followed her line of sight and down the hall. They had both noticed him in the distance, walking slowly and painfully. Maybe not to the eye, but only to those who knew what was going on.

"You headed to the book signing?" Ria inquired, suddenly appeared beside them.

"Actually, Dad isn't feeling well."

"Lightman not feeling well?" Ria inquired, almost scoffing at the thought of her boss being under the weather. "Never thought I would see the day." She muttered the last part more to herself.

"I'm going to take them home." Gillian directed towards Ria. "Depending on what happens, I probably won't be in until tomorrow, so I'll need you and Eli to make sure that you lock up when you leave tonight."

"Uh yeah...sure. Is Lightman on something?"

"Do you need something Torres?" Cal drawled out as they approached him.

"Actually, I do."

"We don't have all day. Spit it out."

"Okay." She turned to the face Gillian. "Loker and I can't find anything that stands out, except for when we were looking through her phone records. I counted at least fifteen incoming calls to her phone from one number."

"Did you find out who the number was registered to?" Gillian inquired, slightly distracted as she watched Cal look more and more drained of color. Emily managed to get him to start walking towards the front doors.

"Yeah. The phone number is registered to a guy named Peter Dennings. Loker is looking into it, but so far we've got nothing else on him."

"Let me know when you do?" Gillian asked quickly with a hesitant gaze towards the doors of the building. With a sigh, Ria nodded and watched them leave.


End file.
